Islanders Boys Lacrosse Blows Past LJCD to Head to CIF Championship

On Wednesday night the Islanders Boys Lacrosse team punched their ticket to the CIF D1 Championship as they dominated La Jolla Country Day by the final score of 15-9. 

The start of Wednesday’s matchup had all the makings of a back and fourth scoring fest between two of the top seeds in the playoffs. The Islanders’ offense came out humming to start the match as they would net two early goals from Charley Kobets and Landon Sutherland. 

However, as effective as the Islanders’ offense was, the La Jolla Country Day attack was just as lethal. The Pines would strike for three early goals of their own and hold the 3-2 advantage early. 

In the first quarter, Coronado would muster one more goal before the horn, thanks to an acrobatic goal from Neil Capin to tie the match at 3-3. But the Pines would yet again answer as they ripped the back of the net one more time to take back the lead at 4-3 at the end of the first quarter. 

While the first quarter was filled with offensive highlights, the second quarter was the near opposite. The Islanders’ defense allowed just two goals in the second thanks to another impressive showing in goal from Charles Lang, who produced 6-plus saves in the quarter alone. 

Elsewhere, defenders such as Emmett Warner, Jonah York, and Vinton Garden were thorns in the side of LJCD, as both forced multiple turnovers and created chaos for their opponent.

On offense for Coronado, they continued to pepper the LJCD goal as Robby Spane, who won about 90% of the game’s faceoffs, would go low to high for a goal in the second. And Kobets netted his second of the game to make it a one-goal game heading into the half. 

While the game was close for nearly the entire first half, the second half is where the Islanders would pull away. Coming out of the break Coronado would net four straight unanswered goals from Spane, Capin, Sutherland (two times), and Maximus Kieffer to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 10-6 advantage. 

And it wasn’t just the offense getting it done, as two of the goals were results of steals and groundballs by Max Ramey and Garden, which led to scores in transition. La Jolla Country Day would net one goal at the end of the quarter, but the Islanders would again respond as Kobets would net his third to make it an 11-8 game at the end of the third. 

In the fourth quarter, much like the third, it would be all Islanders. To start the quarter, Coronado would again get a quick set of goals from Sutherland and Neil Capin. Then with just about 6:54 to play, the Islanders stuck again as Capin found Micheal Bannon to make it a 14-8 game. Coronado scored one more time for good measure to seal the 15-8 victory over La Jolla Country Day and earn a spot in the CIF Championship. 

The Islanders faced Patrick Henry High School Saturday, May 21 at 2:30 @ at Del Norte High School where Patrick Henry took the championship title.